The Mahabharata of Krishna-Dwaipayana Vyasa, Volume 3 eBook

how is it that thou livest as if thou art perfectly
hale? As soon as a creature is born, Decrepitude
and Death pursue him for (effecting) his destruction.
All existent things, mobile and immobile, are affected
by these two. The attachment which one feels
for dwelling in villages and towns (in the midst of
fellowmen) is said to be the very mouth of Death.
The forest, on the other hand, is regarded as the fold
within which the senses may be penned. This is
declared by the Srutis.[515] The attachment a person
feels for dwelling in a village or town (in the midst
of men) is like a cord that binds him effectually.
They that are good break that cord and attain to emancipation,
while they that are wicked do not succeed in breaking
them. He who never injures living creatures by
thought, word, or deed, is never injured by such agencies
as are destructive of life and property.[516] Nothing
can resist the messengers (Disease and Decrepitude)
of Death when they advance except Truth which devours
Untruth. In Truth is immortality.[517] For these
reasons one should practise the vow of Truth; one
should devote oneself to a union with Truth; one should
accept Truth for one’s Veda; and restraining
one’s senses, one should vanquish the Destroyer
by Truth. Both Immortality and Death are planted
in the body. One comes to Death through ignorance
and loss of judgment; while Immortality is achieved
through Truth. I shall, therefore, abstain from
injury and seek to achieve Truth, and transgressing
the sway of desire and wrath, regard pleasure and pain
with an equal eye, and attaining tranquillity, avoid
Death like an immortal. Upon the advent of that
season when the sun will progress towards the north,
I shall restraining my senses, set to the performance
of the Santi-sacrifice, the Brahma-sacrifice, the
Mind-sacrifice, and the Work-sacrifice.[518] How can
one like me worship his Maker in animal-sacrifices
involving cruelty, or sacrifices of the body, such
as Pisachas only can perform and such as produce fruits
that are transitory?[519] That person whose words,
thoughts, penances, renunciation, and yoga meditation,
all rest on Brahma, succeeds in earning the highest
good. There is no eye which is equal to (the eye
of) Knowledge. There is no penance like (that
involved in) Truth. There is no sorrow equal
to (that involved in) attachment. There is no
happiness (that which is obtainable from) renunciation.
I have sprung from Brahma through Brahma. I shall
devote myself to Brahma, though I am childless.
I shall return to Brahma. I do not require a
son for rescuing me. A Brahmana can have no wealth
like to the state of being alone, the state in consequence
of which he is capable of regarding everything with
an equal eye, the practice of truthfulness, good behaviour,
patience, abstention from injury, simplicity, and
avoidance of all rites and visible sacrifices.
What use hast thou, O Brahmana, of wealth or kinsmen
and relatives, of wives, when thou shalt have to die?
Seek thy Self which is concealed in a cave. Where
are thy grandsires and where thy sire?’[520]